The problem at nursing homes is not finances, it's poor care: PennLive letters

A few weeks back, you published a letter about financial challenges facing nursing homes. The real problem at nursing homes is the poor quality of care that families have to deal with in this state.

I gave the only 24/7 care both of my parents received for five-plus years. My dad died in 2010 and I then continued to care for my mother until April of 2012, when she finally went into a local nursing home. It was something that I would never do again considering the poor care and outright neglect she received there.

I lost count of the times they allowed her to fall. Once they actually abandoned her in the bathroom. Call buttons were thrown on the floor where she couldn’t get to them. She got no help for the whole first month regarding what on the menu she wanted to eat. They lost her hearing aid twice and dentures once, and would do nothing about a roommate who stole her belongings, and countless other matters I could list.

Then they not only have the nerve to charge almost $9,000 a month for this, they also over-bill patients and refuse to supply the family with an itemized billing so that you can see what you are paying for. (This week I filed over-billing fraud charges with the state Attorney General's office and the Postal Inspector's office for mail fraud.)

The earlier letter said the nursing homes are in financial trouble. Well they’d be in a lot more trouble if they only got paid for the actual quality of the care they gave. So, readers with a family in a nursing home – check your bill and demand it be itemized every month.